INTERVIEW: Sewphie

So I am adding a new little feature to my blog.... Interviewing people who I love, find inspirational, or who make me laugh... or all three together.... whatever it may be I think this will be fun... because I get the ask whatever questions I want and hope they will answer them!! There are a ton of people I would love to interview... pretty much just to pick at their brain.... So don't be surprised if I ask!!

The first victim is Sophie from Threadhead. Pretty much she blows me away as an artist... her embroidery skills are out of this world and I love everything she makes. We seem to have the same style and love the same things... She knows the art of fill in stitches... which is why I secretly despise her.... and love her all the same... She has such attention to detail its sickening! But now I understand... She carves stone!!! wwhhaaatt? No wonder she is so fabulous! Check out her interview and beautiful work! Hopefully she will post some things she has carved on her blog!!! I would love to drool over them and find another reason to hate her... hahahah just kidding... I don't hate her I think shes fab! thats why I chose her!! She really has been an inspiration for me to push myself to try new things. I have been drooling over her work over at Craftster for months... everything she does is just amazing to say the least...

I think I will have a new person to interview every month... What do you think? Hopefully the questions get better... more fun and riskay... I wasn't on my A game when I came up with these... but I like her answers so... they will do!









first name: Sophie

where you live: Preston, Lancashire UK

your real job is: I’m an occupational therapist on a psychiatric ward. It’s a great job, I’m lucky to do something I enjoy. Before I qualified I used to wait tables and do promotional work. I once had a job where I had to dress as Elvis and hand out free samples of bread in a supermarket. I’m so glad I don’t do promo work any more!

How long have you been embroidering?: Probably a couple of years. I can’t remember how I got into it, possibly it was after stumbling across Craftster. I think the first thing I did was the cross stitch lady (it’s Anna Karina) I use as my avatar on blogger.

what inspires your work?: Other crafty folk, tattoos, old drawings, pin up girls. Anything can inspire me I’ve got a thing about magpies at the moment and am planning some magpie pieces. Also after trying Assisi work for the Craftster Tea Towel Tour I’m planning some more edgy, modern Assisi pieces.

If you had an alter ego what would her name be? (I am assuming you don't have one... but if you do... what's her name?) Mrs Mark Lanegan




other crafts you do?: Resin jewelry, knitting (well I started a scarf in March), shrink plastic is fun to play around with. I get to do a lot of crafts in the groups I run at work today we were using glass paints on Perspex. Crafts work really well in my job they can be healing, relaxing and help us to assess people who find it difficult to communicate. Here’s a bit of a history lesson- the term ‘basket case’ comes from when occupational therapists used to do basket weaving with patients in the asylums. For a while crafts were very out of fashion in my profession because they seemed old school and had negative associations because of the old asylums. Luckily now it’s being recognized that there is a positive place for them in building service users self esteem and helping them develop skills. Ok, lecture over kids 

Do you think it is mean of me that I secretly hate you because your fill in stitches are so wonderful?
Ha ha ha! That’s funny. I think you are a total bitch for hating me- I’m gonna think of a reason to hate you back and send you nasty messages. The Anglo American war is on sister! (Brook: HAHAHHAHA I love you! "AMERICA: land of the free and home of the BRAVE!!!" Don't make me bust my pilgrim skills out! )

What project of yours is your favorite of all time?: The sailor girl here I was really pleased with the little flowers. It’s not very big, maybe 4’’ high. It’s based on an Angelique Houtkamp (more of her later…) artwork so when I was done I emailed her with a photo and she sent me a very sweet email back. It’s one of the few pieces I made for myself a lot of the things I make are for swaps at the moment. I may be addicted to swapping. The best thing I’ve made for a swap was this piece also a Houtkamp design I did for Katie Kutthroat.



Do people still say "the bees knees" and "dogs bullox" ? In England?:
Dog bollocks! Yep we do! Also I love cockney rhyming slang eg you say whistle for the word suit (whistle and toot =suit) or a nice cup of rosie (rosie lee= tea) or he’s a pain in the Khyber (Khyber pass = ass). Oh dear, this probably makes no sense if you aren’t English… (Brook: I have heard of this... Some rhyme about answer the phone = the dog is barking or something)

Mother Fucker is my favorite cuss word... what is yours?: Berkshire Hunt (rhyming slang again, I let you work it out) (Brook: eeewwww is it fucking cunt...? you dirty dirty gal!! )

What are some of your favorite blogs or websites? Favourite blogs; Needle and Pins, your blog ♥ Knit with Love ♥, Lily Blogs, Between the pages and my friends art blog Chloe Cumming Is Erumpent oh and that Cake Wrecks one is hilarious.
My favorite websites are Craftster, Instructables, Facebook (I know, I know) and Flickr. I also use the Google image search a lot to find images to embroider.

What is your favorite song?: Anything by Mark Lanegan or Tom Waits and my funeral song is going to be Lay Me Low by Nick Cave

In High School what were you like?: Drunk mostly.

What are your other interest besides crafting? I like watching films, listening to music, going to gigs, cooking, drinking tea, reading, pub quizzes. I’d love to be able to say something dramatic like skydiving but I’m really very average.

A lot of your work seems to be Tattoo inspired, Is there a particular artist that you get inspiration from? I love Angelique Houtkamp’s work. She is a tattooist and painter and everything she does is sooo cool. Check her out she does gorgeous tattooed and nautical pictures of girls with a ‘20s feel to them. I also like Mitch O’Connell and traditional Sailor Jerry stuff.

Do you have any tattoos yourself? if so what are they? Sorry no- boring I know. Maybe one day… I think girls with ink look amazing but I’m not sure it would suit me and how I dress. If I ever had the opportunity to be tattooed by Angelique I would definitely go for it. I’d have one of her fab glamourous nautical ladies on my back. I’m also thinking of getting a little tattoo of a bee on my foot because I love foot tattoos.

If you were to live in any decade what would it be? The ‘50’s for the fashion, hair, fabrics, cars and music (Brook: A-freakin'-MEN)

Do you drink tea everyday? (I know I am stereotyping you.. but oh well)
All the time, it’s true. We Brits love a brew and drink tea non-stop. I probably drink two to three hundred cups of tea a day

What is your favorite material to stitch on?: cotton- I like coloured quilters cotton for stitching on.





Have you always been crafty?
Not crafty as such but when I was younger I went to art school and studied sculpture. I used to make these upholstered masks with big ‘growths’ sticking out of them and gloves with really long fingers, they were quite creepy. Maybe I’ll dig out some photos some time and stick them on my blog to freak people out. (Brook: PLEASE DO!)

favorite season?:
The Summer, music festivals in the mud ahhh…

What is your favorite stitch? I love to use split stitch as a fill stitch it’s so even and flat.

What's one thing that might surprise me about you ? This is a very boring answer but people are generally surprised that I know how to stone carve as it’s seen as a bloke thing. One other thing that is maybe not surprising but very sweet; when I was younger both my parents used to embroider, my friends thought it was odd that my Dad used to cross stitch but I always thought it was pretty cool.



Thats all folks!!! Next month I already have an idea who it will be... I've asked her and she has agreed... he... he... he.... Can't wait! hint: she is the sheriff in town.....